The Joker Gets An Origin Film To Be Produced By Martin Scorsese, And We're Buying Tickets Now!

You ever hear about a certain movie and have one of those, “Holy crap!” moments where something just sounds incredibly awesome from the start? That was our response to the news that Warner Bros/DC is planning on producing an origin film for The Joker. Oh, sure,some of you may want to roll your eyes at how seemingly desperate the studio is for trying something like this, until you realize that the behind the scenes crew is going to include Martin frickin' Scorsese, Todd Phillips and Scott Silver.

According to Deadline, the project is in the early stages of development, but at this point the idea is that the script will be co-written by 8 Mile’s Scott Silver and The Hangover’s Todd Phillips, who will also be serving as director. Both Phillips and Scorsese will produce.

Apparently this version of the character will have no connections to any that have come before, so put interpretations by the likes of Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, Jared Leto or Cesar Romero (c’mon, it would have been disrespectful not to include him) out of your mind. This could be a younger version anyway.

Comments Deadline, “An intriguing part is the setting. The intention is to make a gritty and grounded hard-boiled crime film set in early-’80s Gotham City that isn’t meant to feel like a DC movie as much as one of Scorsese’s films from that era, like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or The King Of Comedy.” Although the script is reportedly being written, the studio has not scheduled this one as of yet.

At this point there has been no definitive origin for the character set. As Google has noted, “Batman: The Killing Joke (1988) built on the Joker's 1951 origin story, portraying him as a failed comedian pressured into committing crime as the Red Hood to support his pregnant wife. Batman's interference causes him to leap into a chemical vat, which disfigures him.” So that’s one version. You listen to Heath Ledger’s Joker tell it in The Dark Knight, there are a number of different versions just for him.

We think it’s safe to assume that this film will render the final verdict on what’s what. Then again, the joke could be on us.